Along with the 600 page report the Climate Change Committee has released a stark warning that the “likelihood of under-delivery is high”, whilst the UK Government has intervened to create policies and strategies for most major sectors of the economy, the Climate Change Committee finds “scant evidence of delivery” against them, with major policy gaps also forming.

The report notes that UK emissions are 47% lower than they were in 1990, despite a 4% increase last year. Which is attributed to a recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Emissions are still 10% lower than they were in 2019.

The UK Government has made attempts to accelerate decarbonisation across all areas of the economy, with its Net-Zero Strategy, published in 2021, promising to “transforms every sector of the economy” but will these strategies be enough to deliver the required decarbonisation to reach the goals.

The Climate Change Committee anticipates that the Net-Zero Strategy will cover around one-third of required UK emissions reductions just to meet the Sixth Carbon Budget in the 2030s, with another 25% of emissions potentially covered based on a range of external factors. However, the Climate Change Committee notes that more than 33% of required emissions reductions aren’t covered by existing policies.